Lifeboat
by xohearted12
Summary: Steve and Kono must determine what comes after their painful break up.


**Hello, everyone!**

**Thank you guys so much for the reviews on my first story. I was able to find inspiration for this story relatively quickly and decided to run with it. **

**I hope you enjoy, Thanks.**

**Summary: Steve and Kono must determine what comes after their painful break up.**

_**LIFEBOAT**_

Kono was aware that the break up would complicated their professional relationship, but she and Steve both agreed that they would attempt to co-exist with each other.

It had been several weeks since their explosive fight, and the tension still had not settled. Danny and Chin could even feel it. They tried their best to avoid it, but it was a daunting task when the former couple made it a point to make their drama everyone else's problem.

Kono had just arrived at HQ and immediately took her place at her desk to hopeful tackle the mountain of paperwork that had piled up over time. She was determined to keep her focus and not let her eyes wonder towards Steve's office, which just happened to be a few feet from her own position.

She could vaguely remember the times in which they were happy, but when she really contemplated it, the reasons behind their separation were also kind of fuzzy.

Kono loved Steve, but there were far too many hurdles for them to overcome. Eventually, the pressure of the failing relationship combined with the pressure of her job became too much for the young rookie to handle.

She was on her computer when she heard Steve's voice. Far a split second she swore he was speaking to her, but once she looked up, her theory was proven wrong. Steve was standing up at his desk with one hand resting on hip and the other holding his phone to his ear. He was speaking to the person on the other end with a tone no one ever wanted to hear. Kono knew this from experience.

As Steve began pacing, Kono couldn't bring herself to direct her focus on something else. Steve and Kono had been together for about a year when things started to decline for them. She watched his behavior and knew that it was a serious conversation. He tightened his muscles every so often probably because he didn't like the direction the talk had taken.

Danny had just arrived at the office from the main door when he noticed Kono's presence as well. It didn't take much to notice that her eyes were focused on her ex-boyfriend. This should be interesting.

"He looks pretty hot in that shirt, doesn't he, babe?" he asked as he sat on the edge of her desk. As usually, Danny was clad in his normal attire, which just happened to include a tie on this particular day.

This comment was more than enough to pull Kono back into reality. She peeled her eyes away from McGarrett and instead concentrated them on the older man sitting on her desk with a smug smile plastered on his face.

"Shut up, Danny" she snapped before looking at her bright computer screen.

"Hey, don't kill the messenger!" he replied with his hands pulled up to his ears. "But you know, a picture would last longer."

Kono instantly shot him a death glare. "What am I supposed to do, Danny? He is making everything so difficult." She leaned back in her chair as she finished her statement.

Danny smiled, but wasn't able to conceal his laugh. Kono rolled her eyes when she saw this.

"Stop laughing at me!"

Danny pulled his hand up to cover his mouth as he attempted to stop his teasing. "I'm sorry." He spoke in between chuckles. "I'm sorry. I'm just not sure whether I should laugh at you or feel bad for you."

"Oh, well, obviously it wasn't a hard decision." She knew she probably deserved his taunting, but it wasn't going to help her handle the issues with the team's SEAL.

Danny was finally able to halt his laugh before rested his hands in his lap. "Kono, you need to put on your big girl panties and deal with it." He shrugged.

Kono squinted her eyes to make it seem like she was thinking about something. Suddenly, she jumped up from her chair and grabbed the end of Danny's tie. She then tugged on it hard enough to make sure he felt it.

"You are so immature, Williams." She stated as she leaned into his face. Kono was close enough that Danny could feel her breath.

Danny looked around quickly, making sure that no one was in hearing range. Once he was aware that no one was in the area, he faced Kono again and smirked.

She furrowed her eyebrows. His smirk was scaring her and confusing her at the same time. Danny was having way too much fun with this.

"What?" she asked in a higher pitched voice.

"You know, if this were a movie, we would totally be the two characters with tons of built up sexual tension, I would absolutely kiss you." He seemed satisfied with himself after this statement, but Kono became quite disgusted.

"Oh God!" she let go of his tie instantly, took a step back and covered her eyes in horror. "Please don't ever say anything like that ever again!" She yelled.

Danny raises his eyebrows. He was sort of offended. "Why not?" he stated through a sigh.

Kono licked her lips, crossed her arms over her chest and stepped closer to Danny. "Daniel, you do realize that I have done very naughty things to your partner, right?" Once she saw Danny's expression drop, Kono smiles. She was sure she had accomplished in shutting him up.

Several moments elapsed before Kono took Danny's silence as her queue to leave. Kono rotated on her heel, shaking her hips a bit more than necessary as she turned the corner.

"Yeah, well, you don't anymore!" Danny called after her, but he wasn't exactly sure if she had heard his remark.

He was left alone in the room before a harsh voice interrupted his thinking.

"Who are you talking to?" Because the voice had come from behind Danny, he never saw the source of the voice coming. He jumped slightly resulting in him falling off the edge of Kono's now abandoned desk.

As soon as Danny was stable on his feet, he saw that the unforgiving voice that had spoken a few seconds prior belonged to Steve. He should have known. Of course Steve would be the one to cause Danny's first heart attack.

"You really shouldn't sneak up on people like that, you know?" Danny declared as he placed his hand over the left side of his chest, directly over his heart. "You've already killed far too many people for one lifetime! Do you really want to add another?"

Steve turned his head slightly, arching his eyebrows. He certainly wasn't in the mood for Danny's yelling at the moment.

"Who are you talking to?" Steve repeated his question.

Danny cleared his throat as he turned to face the spot where Kono had disappeared only a minute ago. "Oh, it was just Kono." Danny folded his arms over his chest waiting for a reaction.

He noticed Steve tense up immediately. His appearance quickly intensified at the sound of his ex-girlfriend's name being said. Steve looked down at the file he was carried, hoping to avoid Danny's critical expression.

Danny watched Steve grow increasingly uncomfortable and he was not able to disguise his amusement.

Steve noticed. "What?" He asked. Steve despised when others tried to examine him. He was the commander of this team for a reason. He was trained in the Navy; Steve was trained to handle specific situations. One of his best qualities is the ability to intimidate others. This wasn't a skill Danny would ever acquire.

"Oh, nothing" Danny shook his head as he continued to stare at his boss.

Steve wasn't convinced. Not in the least, but he decided to drop the topic. "HPD called. They have a suspected kidnapping that we need to look into." Steve was just about to step away, but Danny wanted to be sure he got the last word.

"You're an idiot, McGarrett." Danny mumbled under his breath.

"Shut up, Danny." Steve called back as his back faced Danny, who still found himself perched on Kono's desk.

Danny smiled to himself. Messing with those two was far too easy.

**HAWAIIFIVEO&&HAWAIIFIVEO**

Steve was walking down the hallway, making his way towards the main elevator. He needed to get some paperwork up to HPD before he finally headed home. Once he finally approached the elevator doors, he pushed the button directly next to it.

While he waited for the doors open, he allowed himself to think about the day's events. He was aware of Kono's presence in HQ earlier in the morning, but Steve had made no effort to communicate with her.

He was not exactly sure where their relationship was at the moment. One minute they were together, the next they were at each other's throats. At this point, they barely spoke.

As soon as the doors opened, Steve stepped inside and leaned against the back wall. The entrance of the elevator was nearly closing when Steve heard a voice calling out to him.

"Hold the doors!" he immediately jumped forward to position his hand in between the two doors. They quickly opened back up, this allowed for the unknown voice to enter.

Kono turned the corner and stepped inside. She was holding several files that had her attention at the second.

"Thanks." Kono was then finally able to look up and acknowledge the other person occupying the otherwise empty elevator. She promptly dropped her smile and gulped before attempting to make a run for the exit. Unfortunately, the doors had just snapped shut.

Kono couldn't believe she had gotten herself in this situation. She was usually brilliant at avoiding him. Today had been no different. She had crossed paths with him once or twice, but she simply walked past, as did he. This had been their normal routine for a few weeks now.

Because of their current awkward professional relationship, Kono wasn't sure if things between them would ever return to normal. Would their relationship ever resemble the relationship they had a year prior. She highly doubted it would. A long time emotional and sexual relationship would not soon escape her mind.

Kono found herself tense up while she faced the front of the room. She closed her eyes momentarily to organize her thoughts.

Steve remained silent in the back of the elevator, sure not to make much noise. He watched Kono from behind as she protectively pulled the files close to her chest.

It felt like an hour had elapsed before Kono made the mistake of turning around too far. It was enough to make contact with him, an action that she soon regretted. Before turning around again, Kono watched as Steve directed his focus to the ground and smirked.

"Stop it." Kono spoke in an assertive manner when she faced the elevator doors once again.

Steve instantly snapped his head up at her remark. "Excuse me?" He didn't entirely understand her comment.

She swiftly turned around. "Stop staring," she paused, taking a deep breath. "I need you to staring at me all of the time."

"I'm not." Steve shook his head out of confusion.

Kono leaned forward and pulled the button that would momentarily halt the elevator's movement towards their eventual destination. Pushing the button resulted in a soft humming noise ringing through the small space that filled up the now silent air.

"But you are. You do!" She started to raise her voice as her frustrations boiled over. "You stare, and you watch me, Steve!"

Steve was quite surprised by Kono's behavior. She was never really one for confrontation. "I didn't realize," he reached his hand out towards her, but was soon stopped by Kono.

"Stop! Please?" She was almost pleading with him at this point. "I cannot do my job, because all I can think about is whether anyone else can notice."

Steve narrowed his eyes at this statement. Kono noticed that her words angered him, but she was not sure why it had.

"Unbelievable." Steve sighed. He could not bring himself to look in Kono's eye. He was afraid he might explode if her were to. "This is still about the rules, Kono?"

The rules in their team, about no personal relationships, had played a pivotal role in the tension between the two. Steve really did not seem to give the restrictions much thought, but Kono had. She worried about what her associations with her boss would do to her reputation in the field. Kono was a rookie, but Steve is a well-respected, former Navy SEAL.

Kono shrugged, nodding. "Of course it is!" Her arms went flying into the air as she began to feel anxious about the consequences of this very dialogue between the two.

Steve growled and nodded with a tense expression on his face. "I gave you your space, we ended it." He made a gesture between the two of them with his finger as he pointed. "You're not really allowed to ask anymore of me." Steve looked down at his watch.

Kono knew that they had both handled the break up wrongly, but it was a complicated situation to handle when you don't get a moment to breath. They only had one night to recover from the vicious words spoken by both parties.

They were both extremely stubborn and hardheaded people who refused to back down. These qualities multiplied by two did nothing to improve their relationship.

"I'm sorry that I haven't handled this in a way that suits you." Speaking with a severe anger that scared Kono.

She shifted in her position as the conversation took an unexpected turn. Kono had become uncomfortable and Steve had nothing left to say. Actually, that isn't entirely true. They both had a whole book of things that needed to be said, but both we worried of damaging things even farther.

"I'm glad we had this talk." Steve clenched his jaw. "Do me a favor, and turn the damn elevator back on."

Kono was surprised by the resentment contained in his voice. She bit her lip to keep herself from breaking down. She slowly turned around before pushing the button that would turn the elevator back on.

As they approached their floor, they stood in silence. If it had been a few months prior, they probably would have been making out secretly, hiding in the safety of the elevator. Danny had already managed to catch them in the closet once before. Following that incident, they promised to be more careful about things.

Soon, the ding of the doors opening cut into the undesired tension. Steve took the first opportunity he had to push past her and enter the real world that still existed outside.

**HAWAIIFIVEO&&HAWAIIFIVEO**

Kono was seated on her couch, eating leftovers from a few nights before. Because of her career, she really didn't have a whole lot of time to have a social life. She also couldn't make room in her schedule to make herself dinner.

This was probably another prominent reason behind her and Steve's ending. Neither one of them were really willing to sacrifice their job to have a healthy relationship. They both wanted for it to work, but they were far too dedicated to their job to achieve this.

Kono had arrived home and quickly changed into more comfortable clothing. She threw on a pair of sweatpants and a thin t-shirt that kept her cool. She wasn't exactly in the best mood after the day from hell she had.

She usually turned on some crappy TV show that made her feel better about her own disappointing life. Kono was just about to change the channel when she heard a knocking at the door from across the room. Kono picked up the remote, shut off the TV and placed her food carton on the table set up in the center of the room.

"I'm coming." She jumped up from the couch and ran over to the other side of the room. Kono opened the front door and was met with her former boyfriend staring directly at her.

He appeared to be deep in thought and vulnerable almost.

Steve is often very tense during work, because of his determination to close a case, but when they were together, she was able to find a more relaxed side to her boss.

"Steve?" She questioned, almost like she couldn't believe he was standing at her front door. "What are you doing here?"

Steve swallowed, taking the first step into her home. Kono followed him after closing the door behind him. He walked further into the living room than she had, because she was trying to not get to close. Kono folded her arms over her chest and watched him examine the room.

"Leftovers?" He motioned to the carton left on her table, smiling slightly.

"Yeah." She replied simply.

They were both silent for a moment, before Steve walked towards the kitchen. "It doesn't surprise me." He said as he entered the other room. Steve opened her refrigerator and pulled out a beer. "This doesn't surprised me either." He raised the bottle in his hand as he spoke.

"What are you doing, Steve?" She was angry that he could just enter her apartment like he ruled it. "You don't live here anymore." Kono stated this softly. She really didn't want it to be true, but she was gradually beginning to accept the reality of the situation.

"I never lived here." He replied calmly, stating it like it was a second thought. No emotions.

Kono shrugged.

His statement was entirely true, as much as Kono didn't want to admit. Most nights, Kono stayed over at Steve's and every other time, Steve was at her place.

There was a silence, a comfortable silence.

The calm before the storm they both knew was approaching.

"You feel it too." He asked as she took a step back. There it was; a statement that could change everything.

Kono wasn't sure was his statement meant, exactly. If he felt the same as she did, they were going to have some serious problems.

Disappointment. Sadness. Anger. Regret. Just to name a few.

"What am I supposed to feel exactly?" She questioned. Kono was handling this situation with her guard all the way up to the ceiling. A personal bubble that would protect her head and heart from the love and pain she endured because of this man.

She was truly hoping that she could distance herself from the conversation. She would not allow herself to be hurt by him.

Going into the academy, Kono had never imagined having this type of conversation with a superior officer, but nothing was going to change it now.

It was happening and it was real.

"I never had the intention of putting through this, you know?" Steve asked, he sounded defenseless and weak when speaking about his previous actions.

"What do you mean?" Kono was genuinely confused. Steve shook his head as he took a drink from his now open beer bottle.

"We were good together, right?" He interrogated as the tip of the bottle sat near his lips.

Kono chuckled slightly. "Yeah, we were perfect." She spoke with total sarcasm. "That's explains why were broken up."

Steve's grin dropped as a serious expression appeared on his stressed face.

"I'm serious, Kono." He raised his eyebrows out of anticipation for an answer.

Kono turned her head, but she couldn't seem to manage the right words to complete a sentence that would ease the conversation. "We can't." She shook her head as he took a step in her direction.

He nodded as he finished the last drop of his beer. "I think I should go." Steve declared as he watched her face fall.

Kono shifted her feet slightly while keeping her eyes focused on the man standing in front of her. She knew that the man she had fallen in love with was there, but they just couldn't find a way to be together. All they did was hurt each other. While they were together, she rarely spent her time thinking about how to make her relationship with Steve work, but now that they were apart, it was all she could think about. Was she willing to make some changes to be spend her days with the only person she could imagine loving? Now was the perfect time for an answer to this question.

_**THE**_

"I think you should stay." She whispered.

Before Kono had the chance to say anything else, Steve's lips crashed into her own. For a moment, she was surprised by the intensity of his action, but it didn't take long for her to participate as well.

Steve soon found Kono's hands running through his hair. He placed his hands on her waist, which allowed him to lift her up easily. Kono took this as a sign and she then wrapped her long legs around his hips, as he trailed kisses down her neck.

It wasn't long before Steve had Kono's back pushed up against a wall before proceeding to carry her up the stairs and into the bedroom. Along the way, Kono's shirt came off as did Steve's, along with the rest of their clothing.

**HAWAIIFIVEO&&HAWAIIFIVEO**

The following morning, the sun shining through the nearby window awakened Kono. She slowly opened her eyes and saw a shirtless Steve sleeping next to her. She realized soon that she was naked as well.

Kono couldn't believe that she had allowed their conversation the night before to escalate to this level. Of course, it had been something she wanted, but she knew it was better that they were to keep their distance from each other.

Great job they were doing at that, huh?

A few minutes later, she noticed Steve had woken up and was watching her play with her hair. He knew that something was on her mind. When she got nervous, she had a tendency to twirl her hair. These are the types of things you learn about a person after dating for a year.

As he examined her, it killed him to know that every morning couldn't be like this. He had missed so many things in the past few weeks, but he wasn't able to imagine an entire lifetime of missed moments. Before his departure from her house, he wanted to be sure that she was aware of his feelings on the future of their relationship.

Kono looked up at him from her position in the bed. Her eyes were a deep brown, and her hair was a mess after sleeping on it all night. Well, that and something else. Suddenly, he noticed a shift in her expression.

She rested her head on his chest. Before speaking, she took a deep breath. "This doesn't change anything." She paused. "I wish it did, but last night doesn't fix us."

Steve nodded as he stared straight ahead at the wall directly in front of him. Kono looked up, she noticed his jawline tighten and his fist clenched, but she had to make her feelings known. If she hadn't, they would have both gotten hurt even worse this time around.

Steve and Kono finally locked eyes, and her heart sank. His eyes were filled with a disappointment that she had never seen before.

He smirked at her. "Even though it was amazing?" He asked.

She was taken back by his honest question. "Even though it was amazing." She replied. Steve felt her smile against his chest and this made him feel a slight hint of hope for them.

Kono sat up swiftly in the bed, bringing the sheet along with her.

"Not now. Maybe someday." She nodded. "Not right now." Kono grabbed his hand and kissed his it. "It's just not our time yet." She spoke against his fingers as he listened intensely.

"What if it never is?" Steve asked curiously.

Kono raised her eyebrows, a sign that she didn't understand his indirect question.

"What if it's never our time?" He elaborated this time.

Kono turned her head to face the window that had awoken her less than twenty minutes prior. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

"Then it was never meant to be." She wanted to scream after she said this, but Kono couldn't lie to him.

Kono held her head in her hand. Her elbow was now resting on her knee. Steve sat up as well and inched closer to her.

They both leaned in. Kono hesitated more than Steve had, but once their lips finally did meet, neither wanted to pull away, but they had to.

Steve resumed his position against the bedpost, while Kono remained in her usually position. For several minutes, they sat in silence and simply watched each other. Kono pulled all of her hair together in the back of her head and bit her lip.

Without looking away from her, Steve spoke. "I think I should go."

Kono dropped her hair from her own grasp and placed one of her hands on her forehead. "I think you're right."

Steve nodded at her suggestion and quickly stood up from her bed. He reached for his clothes that were scattered all over the bedroom floor. Kono turned her head in the other direction as he dressed himself, but also because she didn't want Steve to know about the tears running down her cheeks.

_**THE END**_

**I'm pretty sure this story is more out of character than my first, but hopefully not too much for you guys. **

**Reviews would be greatly appreciated.**

**Thanks, everyone!**


End file.
